RS Charts: Ed Sheeran Unseats Drake Atop Artists 500

Ed Sheeran claimed the Number One spot on the Rolling Stone Artists 500 chart, unseating Drake for the first time since the chart launched.

Ed Sheeran claimed the top spot on Rolling Stone’s Artists 500, bumping Drake to Number Two for the first time since the chart launched earlier this month.

Sheeran ended the week of July 12th through July 18th with 107.8 million song streams, while Drake notched 103 million.

Sheeran’s massive week propelled by new album, No. 6 Collaborations Project, which placed 11 songs on the Top 100

After landing at Number 13 on the RS Artists 500 last week, Sheeran jumped to Number One on the strength of his new album, No. 6 Collaborations Project, which was also the Number One album on Rolling Stone’s Top 200 Albums chart. Additionally, 11 songs from No. 6 Collaborations Project appeared on the Top 100 Songs chart, including “I Don’t Care,” featuring Justin Bieber (9.4 million streams), “South of the Border,” featuring Camila Cabello and Cardi B (10.2 million streams) and “Remember the Name,” featuring Eminem and 50 Cent (8.2 million).

The Rolling Stone Artists 500 chart ranks the most-streamed artists of the week in the United States, taking into account audio streams across an artist’s entire catalog during the tracking period. The chart does not include passive listening such as terrestrial radio or digital radio. The Artists 500 is updated daily, and each week Rolling Stone finalizes and publishes an official version of the chart, covering the seven-day period ending with the previous Thursday.

As for Drake, the rapper still notched plenty of streams even as he slipped to Number Two on the RS Artists 500. His recent single, “Money In the Grave,” picked up 17.9 million streams, while his 2018 album Scorpion accumulated 26.8 million streams.

Sheeran’s rise also bumped Post Malone down to third place as he scored 79.7 million streams, the bulk of them coming from his new song “Goodbyes,” featuring Young Thug (21 million) but also his inescapable smash with Swae Lee, “Sunflower” (15.5 million).

Meanwhile, Billie Eilish and Chris Brown fell to Numbers Four and Five with 74.9 million and 65.7 million song streams, respectively. Eilish’s single “Bad Guy” remains a streaming favorite with 12.9 million streams, while its new remix with Justin Bieber notched an additional 10.5 million streams.
Rounding out the rest of the Top 10 was Khalid at Number Six (51.2 million), Ariana Grande at Seven (50.7 million), Juice WRLD at Eight (47.5 million), Youngboy Never Broke Again at Nine (46.3 million) and Taylor Swift at 1 (44 million). There wasn’t too much movement outside the Top 10, though Lil Nas X did fall from Number 8 to Number 14, with just 41.5 million streams.